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January 28, 2006
Reversing the curse
Today marked my return to the Boston Marathon course after dogging it up the Heartbreak Hills many times last winter. Plus, the last run I did on the course last year was the one when I finally realized my achilles injury was bad enough to actually take some time off. So let's just say I have some bad memories/associations with it. (Oddly, I don't really have any memories of the course during the actual marathon a few years ago.) Anyway, I was excited today because the weather was supposed to be good (perfect for me--high 30s and warming up to 50s) and we had a good group. I parked at Cleveland Circle, prayed that I wouldn't get a ticket, and did a couple of miles around the BC reservoir before meeting Wynne, Alyssa and, a special guest, Caitlin at Boston College. I knew Caitlin wanted to get out on the course so I invited her to join us. I've read her blog and heard a lot about her from Alison, but never met her in person.
Anyway, from BC we ran on Beacon Street (not part of the course) for about 6 miles, then we met up with Washington St. and ran towards Wellesley. I felt very relaxed today and I'm not sure why. But I was glad. Even the hills going into Wellesley didn't seem that hard, especially compared to the hills in Derry last weekend! I was worried about the Heartbreak Hills though, because they've always gotten the best of me. I tried to run easy and relaxed the whole time so that I would be ready for the last 3 or so miles of hills. It's just a very long undulating stretch of the course, that's what makes it so hard. (And where it comes in the race, of course.) None of the individual ones are very steep. Today I felt good on the hills, but that doesn't mean I will feel good next time I run them. Still, I ended up getting in probably a little more than 20 and didn't feel particularly beaten up when I was done. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but I'll take it for what it was: a good run.
We just got back from the Boston Indoor Games, which were a lot of fun. We got there on the late side, though, so we didn't have very good seats and I felt squished without much room to move around. I like watching the races, of course, but I also really enjoy just looking around and picking out elite athletes in the crowd. That's because I'm a big track geek. But it's still fun! The most exciting race was the men's 2 mile. The pack stayed tightly bunched through more than a mile and then Craig Mottram battled with Alistair Cragg and Sileshi Sihine on the last lap. Mottram is such a big, tall guy that it looks like one of his strides equal two (or more) of his competitors'! He came charging around the outside on the home stretch and won decisively. It was awesome! Plus, he was so pumped that he kept running and celebrating, not showing any ill effects of having just run an 8:26. My other favorite moment of the meet was when Sara (Bei) Hall was jogging after her race and ran into her husband Ryan who was warming up for his race on the track. They hugged quickly--it was a brief but cute moment and I'm a sucker for those.
Boy, I'm tired! But there were lots of big meets today that I must check up on. Priorities, priorities...
Posted by becky at January 28, 2006 2:13 PM
Comments
Why do elite runners get married so YOUNG?? I had no idea Sara Bei was married!
Anyway your long run sounds really nice. You are in such good shape Becky!
Posted by: Barb at January 30, 2006 10:19 AM